Sabriye Sınaiç sitting on her porch in the village of Hasköy, near Torbalı, western Turkey. Sabriye and her family work as farmers and labourers in their village, and the surrounding area. She doesn't know about her ancestry and has never researched it, but believes her family came to Turkey from Damascus, Syria. Until the establishment of the AfroTürk association she said, "I didn't know there were others like us, then I saw there are many spread around."
Şakir's holds a photograph of his family in their native Hasköy, a village in the Torbalı district of Izmir, Turkey. Şakir can be seen in the blue shirt, back right.
AfroTürks: those descended from slaves, concubines, and domestic workers brought to the Ottoman Empire are said to number up to 100,000 in present day Turkey, although exact figures remain unknown.
Living mostly in rural areas, and often still working the land around Izmir their ancestors were once forced to farm on the Aegean coastline of Turkey, AfroTürks have been building a renewed sense of identity and community for themselves over the past decade.
Discrimination and ignorance from wider society, which doesn't often know they exist, does play a role in the lives of many of these men and women, who are commonly referred to (even by each other) as Arap or Zenci (a racially derogatory term in Turkish).
Under the lead of the late Mustafa Olpak, the AfroTürk community have come together to form an association, unifying their voices to raise issues affecting them to wider society, and reviving old traditions and festivals that were banned during the Ottoman Empire, and the early years of the Turkish Republic.
This reportage focuses on several villages and communities in western Turkey, their daily lives, as well as significant events in the annual AfroTürk calendar.
This is an ongoing body of work...
Mustafa Olpak, the founder of the AfroTürk Association in his office, downtown Izmir, Turkey. Mr Olpak and the association are responsible for reviving AfroTürk traditions, as well as bring the fragmented comunities together to fight discrimination and form a collective voice. Mustafa Olpak died in October 2016, but his legacy and the association will continue.
A Godya speaks to people and tells them of their future during the AfroTürk festival of Dana Bayram (Calf Festival), reinstated for the 10th year in 2016. Traditionally, Godyas were female heads of the AfroTürk communities across the Ottoman Empire and held great respect and power
Esat Sezer's home photo album shows him (bottom left in photo) completing his military service in the Turkish administered Northern Cyprus. Military service is compulsory for all physically able Turkish male citizens.
An AfroTürk family walk around the Clock Tower in central Izmir, western Turkey. The villages and towns around Izmir, and the city itself are home to the majority of Turkey's minority of African descendants.
Şükriye İletmış, 70, in her garden in the village of Hasköy, near Izmir, Turkey. Şükriye identifies as an AfroTürk and her story is featured as part of my ongoing work on the little known of community in western Turkey.
In preparation for the 10th annual Dana Bayram (Calf Festival) held in Izmir, Turkey, Adel (far right) is showed generic African costumes designed by a Turkish costume designer (holding face mask).
A map of Sudan hangs on the walls of the AfroTürk association office in downtown Izmir, western Turkey.
Sabriye Sınaiç (far right) sits with her grandchildren at home in Hasköy. The children play games on an iPad after returning from school. Umut Can (left), Berke Han (holdiıng iPad) and Beyaz Nur (right)
Şakir's son Gürsel, 32 (right), grandson Yağız Efe, 17 months old (centre) and daughter in law Aysel (left), at Şakir's family home in the suburbs of Izmir, Turkey. Mixed marriage, is very common amongst AfroTürks, and this is why Mustafa Olpak of the AfroTürk association says accurate figures on the population are very difficult to estimate.
The Turkish game Okey after being played by friends in a cafe in Izmir, Turkey.
Şakir (centre) spends time with his former work colleagues at a factory near Izmir, Turkey. Şakir is now the head of the AfroTürk Association after the death of its founder, Mustafa Olpak.
Naime Köyü, near the western Turkish city of Izmir is home to a mixed population of AfroTürks and non-AfroTürks, like many villages in the area. Esat Sezer (centre) sits in the cafe in the centre of the village with his friends and neighbours.
The tenth annual AfroTürk Calf Festival (Dana Bayram) in Izmir's city centre. Revived by the AfroTürk association, the festival in one way in which African culture and a sense of community is being developed amongst the AfroTürk families spread over many towns and villages in mostly western Turkey.
A photo of Şakir (right in image), his late wife, and their two boys on the day of their circumcision. Turkish boys are usually circumcised between the ages of 6 and 9 and dressed as Ottoman Sultans.
Fatima Zenci, 65, in her garden at home in Yeniçiftlik village, western Turkey. The village used to be almost half AfroTürk, but now only 7 families remain after migration to cities for economic reasons took place decades ago.
Gülşen Ergüven, 35 (wearing red, centre) working in the canteen at her village school in Yeniçiftlik. Gülşen has two children at the school (the eldest to her left) and works there part time, whilst helping her mother at home with domestic chores.
Naime köyü is a mixed village with several AfroTürk families in the Torbalı district of Izmir, western Turkey. Syrian refugees are increasingly being used as labourers for less pay, leaving many in the village with less work, or struggling to find any.
85 year old Fehmi Yavaşer in his native village of Belevi in western Turkey. Fehmi lived in Germany as a guest worker for 18 years before being deported. He had a career as a boxer back in Turkey, and has no idea of his heritage beyond his village.
Hatice Sezer, 106 (left) and her son Esat Sezer (right) live in the village of Naime. Hatice says she vaguely rembers the founding of the Turkish republic, and she or her son have never looked into the history of their family's ancestry.
The Dana Bayram (Calf Festival), a traditionally AfroTürk event being celebrated in Izmir, Turkey for the 10th year after being brought back to life by the AfroTürk association, led by the late Mustafa Olpak. Gülşen Ergüven (centre) and her son Adel have attended for the past few years.
The village school in Yeniçiftik village, western Turkey has a diverse population of students from Syria, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey, including AfroTürks like young Adel (wearing dark blue jeans, front centre).
Many slaves were brought to the Ottoman Empire to farm cotton, tobacco and vegetables. Esat Sezer's family now owns and works the land behind his family home in the ethnically mixed village of Naime köyü.
Present leader of the AfroTürk Association, Şakir, Turkey sits at home with his grandson, 17 month old Yağız Efe.
The kitchen garden of 70 year old Şükriye İletmış in Hasköy.
Turkish Afro-Türk and non Afro-Türk children playing in a park in Izmir, Turkey.